Global agri-food systems are undergoing a rapid transformation towards higher-value products, stricter food standards, and closer international and vertical integration. The ramifications for trade flows, industry structure, competitiveness, and social welfare may be far-reaching but are not yet well understood. Developing countries in particular face technical and institutional constraints, potentially impeding a successful participation in emerging value chains. This may have implications for poverty, food security, and sustainable development.

The GlobalFood Program at the University of Göttingen carries out research along these lines in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and other partners. As part of this Program, we organize the Second GlobalFood Symposium, to be held on 25-26 April 2014 in Göttingen (Germany). The aim of this Symposium is to discuss new research findings and policy challenges related to the global agri-food system transformation. The two-day event will feature plenary sessions with invited speakers, contributed paper sessions, and posters. Confirmed speakers include Joachim von Braun (Germany), Julio Berdegue (Chile), Julie Caswell (USA), Jill Hobbs (Canada), Jo Swinnen (Belgium), and Maximo Torero (USA).

Participation in the conference will be free of charge, but participants need to bear their own travel and accommodation costs. We will try to make available a few travel stipends for accepted contributions from developing country doctoral students.

Submission for contributions is now closed. Further details about the Symposium program can be downloaded above.